What makes a syllable “heavy” or “light”?

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The rules for positioning of syllable stress in Latin are relatively simple; they are as follows:




  1. In two-syllable words, the stress always falls on the first syllable.



  2. In three or more syllable words, the stress falls like so:



    a. If the penultimate (second-to-last) syllable is heavy, the stress is placed on it.



    b. If the penultimate syllable is light, the stress is placed on the antepenultimate (third-to-last) syllable.





This alone is all well and good, there are only three-ish rules to memorize, and the irregular couple-syllable words that are exceptions to this rule are easy to learn and recognize. However, what always trips me up is the use of the terms "heavy" and "light" (or other related terms) to describe which syllables are stressed.



For the duration of my Latin learning experience, I have simply assumed that syllables containing long vowels were heavy and that syllables containing short vowels were light, or simply just making a qualitative judgment to determine whether the penultimate or antepenultimate syllables "felt" heavy or light. Neither of these methods has ever felt sound to me and I am almost 100% certain that I am not distinguishing heavy and light syllables correctly. Thus, my question:



What are the differences between heavy and light syllables and how does one go about identifying them?










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    The rules for positioning of syllable stress in Latin are relatively simple; they are as follows:




    1. In two-syllable words, the stress always falls on the first syllable.



    2. In three or more syllable words, the stress falls like so:



      a. If the penultimate (second-to-last) syllable is heavy, the stress is placed on it.



      b. If the penultimate syllable is light, the stress is placed on the antepenultimate (third-to-last) syllable.





    This alone is all well and good, there are only three-ish rules to memorize, and the irregular couple-syllable words that are exceptions to this rule are easy to learn and recognize. However, what always trips me up is the use of the terms "heavy" and "light" (or other related terms) to describe which syllables are stressed.



    For the duration of my Latin learning experience, I have simply assumed that syllables containing long vowels were heavy and that syllables containing short vowels were light, or simply just making a qualitative judgment to determine whether the penultimate or antepenultimate syllables "felt" heavy or light. Neither of these methods has ever felt sound to me and I am almost 100% certain that I am not distinguishing heavy and light syllables correctly. Thus, my question:



    What are the differences between heavy and light syllables and how does one go about identifying them?










    share|improve this question























      up vote
      3
      down vote

      favorite
      1









      up vote
      3
      down vote

      favorite
      1






      1





      The rules for positioning of syllable stress in Latin are relatively simple; they are as follows:




      1. In two-syllable words, the stress always falls on the first syllable.



      2. In three or more syllable words, the stress falls like so:



        a. If the penultimate (second-to-last) syllable is heavy, the stress is placed on it.



        b. If the penultimate syllable is light, the stress is placed on the antepenultimate (third-to-last) syllable.





      This alone is all well and good, there are only three-ish rules to memorize, and the irregular couple-syllable words that are exceptions to this rule are easy to learn and recognize. However, what always trips me up is the use of the terms "heavy" and "light" (or other related terms) to describe which syllables are stressed.



      For the duration of my Latin learning experience, I have simply assumed that syllables containing long vowels were heavy and that syllables containing short vowels were light, or simply just making a qualitative judgment to determine whether the penultimate or antepenultimate syllables "felt" heavy or light. Neither of these methods has ever felt sound to me and I am almost 100% certain that I am not distinguishing heavy and light syllables correctly. Thus, my question:



      What are the differences between heavy and light syllables and how does one go about identifying them?










      share|improve this question













      The rules for positioning of syllable stress in Latin are relatively simple; they are as follows:




      1. In two-syllable words, the stress always falls on the first syllable.



      2. In three or more syllable words, the stress falls like so:



        a. If the penultimate (second-to-last) syllable is heavy, the stress is placed on it.



        b. If the penultimate syllable is light, the stress is placed on the antepenultimate (third-to-last) syllable.





      This alone is all well and good, there are only three-ish rules to memorize, and the irregular couple-syllable words that are exceptions to this rule are easy to learn and recognize. However, what always trips me up is the use of the terms "heavy" and "light" (or other related terms) to describe which syllables are stressed.



      For the duration of my Latin learning experience, I have simply assumed that syllables containing long vowels were heavy and that syllables containing short vowels were light, or simply just making a qualitative judgment to determine whether the penultimate or antepenultimate syllables "felt" heavy or light. Neither of these methods has ever felt sound to me and I am almost 100% certain that I am not distinguishing heavy and light syllables correctly. Thus, my question:



      What are the differences between heavy and light syllables and how does one go about identifying them?







      pronunciation vowel-quantity consonants vowel






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      asked 2 hours ago









      Ethan Bierlein

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          A syllable is heavy if it has a long vowel, or if it ends in a consonant—-although the consonant rule had some exceptions in old poetry.



          Figuring out if a syllable ends in a consonant can be a bit tricky because Latin didn’t always write double consonants (Z and most intervocalic I/J scan as double consonants, despite being written with only single letter) and certain consonant sequences can either occur at the start of a syllable or split between syllables (“mute + liquid” clusters, composed of an obstruent followed by R or L).






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            A syllable is can be heavy in two ways.
            It is heavy by nature if it contains a long vowel or a diphthong.
            It is heavy by position if the vowel is followed by a "consonant cluster".
            If neither happens, the syllable is light.
            It can also be heavy for both of the two reasons.



            The irregularities have to do with what "consonant cluster" means.
            Mostly, it means two or more consonants, and simplifying the rule this way gets most cases right.
            The important question is whether the consonant or combination thereof sounds short or long.
            Some long-looking combinations of consonants are short and do not count as "consonant clusters" for syllable weight; these are qu and some cases of muta cum liquida.
            Sometimes a "consonant cluster" is spelled with a single letter, like the i in maior (pronounced /majjor/, not /major/ or /maajor/) or z.
            Perhaps a more accurate term would have been "long consonant sound" rather than "consonant cluster".





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              2 Answers
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              A syllable is heavy if it has a long vowel, or if it ends in a consonant—-although the consonant rule had some exceptions in old poetry.



              Figuring out if a syllable ends in a consonant can be a bit tricky because Latin didn’t always write double consonants (Z and most intervocalic I/J scan as double consonants, despite being written with only single letter) and certain consonant sequences can either occur at the start of a syllable or split between syllables (“mute + liquid” clusters, composed of an obstruent followed by R or L).






              share|improve this answer
























                up vote
                5
                down vote













                A syllable is heavy if it has a long vowel, or if it ends in a consonant—-although the consonant rule had some exceptions in old poetry.



                Figuring out if a syllable ends in a consonant can be a bit tricky because Latin didn’t always write double consonants (Z and most intervocalic I/J scan as double consonants, despite being written with only single letter) and certain consonant sequences can either occur at the start of a syllable or split between syllables (“mute + liquid” clusters, composed of an obstruent followed by R or L).






                share|improve this answer






















                  up vote
                  5
                  down vote










                  up vote
                  5
                  down vote









                  A syllable is heavy if it has a long vowel, or if it ends in a consonant—-although the consonant rule had some exceptions in old poetry.



                  Figuring out if a syllable ends in a consonant can be a bit tricky because Latin didn’t always write double consonants (Z and most intervocalic I/J scan as double consonants, despite being written with only single letter) and certain consonant sequences can either occur at the start of a syllable or split between syllables (“mute + liquid” clusters, composed of an obstruent followed by R or L).






                  share|improve this answer












                  A syllable is heavy if it has a long vowel, or if it ends in a consonant—-although the consonant rule had some exceptions in old poetry.



                  Figuring out if a syllable ends in a consonant can be a bit tricky because Latin didn’t always write double consonants (Z and most intervocalic I/J scan as double consonants, despite being written with only single letter) and certain consonant sequences can either occur at the start of a syllable or split between syllables (“mute + liquid” clusters, composed of an obstruent followed by R or L).







                  share|improve this answer












                  share|improve this answer



                  share|improve this answer










                  answered 1 hour ago









                  sumelic

                  5,84511344




                  5,84511344




















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                      A syllable is can be heavy in two ways.
                      It is heavy by nature if it contains a long vowel or a diphthong.
                      It is heavy by position if the vowel is followed by a "consonant cluster".
                      If neither happens, the syllable is light.
                      It can also be heavy for both of the two reasons.



                      The irregularities have to do with what "consonant cluster" means.
                      Mostly, it means two or more consonants, and simplifying the rule this way gets most cases right.
                      The important question is whether the consonant or combination thereof sounds short or long.
                      Some long-looking combinations of consonants are short and do not count as "consonant clusters" for syllable weight; these are qu and some cases of muta cum liquida.
                      Sometimes a "consonant cluster" is spelled with a single letter, like the i in maior (pronounced /majjor/, not /major/ or /maajor/) or z.
                      Perhaps a more accurate term would have been "long consonant sound" rather than "consonant cluster".





                      share
























                        up vote
                        0
                        down vote













                        A syllable is can be heavy in two ways.
                        It is heavy by nature if it contains a long vowel or a diphthong.
                        It is heavy by position if the vowel is followed by a "consonant cluster".
                        If neither happens, the syllable is light.
                        It can also be heavy for both of the two reasons.



                        The irregularities have to do with what "consonant cluster" means.
                        Mostly, it means two or more consonants, and simplifying the rule this way gets most cases right.
                        The important question is whether the consonant or combination thereof sounds short or long.
                        Some long-looking combinations of consonants are short and do not count as "consonant clusters" for syllable weight; these are qu and some cases of muta cum liquida.
                        Sometimes a "consonant cluster" is spelled with a single letter, like the i in maior (pronounced /majjor/, not /major/ or /maajor/) or z.
                        Perhaps a more accurate term would have been "long consonant sound" rather than "consonant cluster".





                        share






















                          up vote
                          0
                          down vote










                          up vote
                          0
                          down vote









                          A syllable is can be heavy in two ways.
                          It is heavy by nature if it contains a long vowel or a diphthong.
                          It is heavy by position if the vowel is followed by a "consonant cluster".
                          If neither happens, the syllable is light.
                          It can also be heavy for both of the two reasons.



                          The irregularities have to do with what "consonant cluster" means.
                          Mostly, it means two or more consonants, and simplifying the rule this way gets most cases right.
                          The important question is whether the consonant or combination thereof sounds short or long.
                          Some long-looking combinations of consonants are short and do not count as "consonant clusters" for syllable weight; these are qu and some cases of muta cum liquida.
                          Sometimes a "consonant cluster" is spelled with a single letter, like the i in maior (pronounced /majjor/, not /major/ or /maajor/) or z.
                          Perhaps a more accurate term would have been "long consonant sound" rather than "consonant cluster".





                          share












                          A syllable is can be heavy in two ways.
                          It is heavy by nature if it contains a long vowel or a diphthong.
                          It is heavy by position if the vowel is followed by a "consonant cluster".
                          If neither happens, the syllable is light.
                          It can also be heavy for both of the two reasons.



                          The irregularities have to do with what "consonant cluster" means.
                          Mostly, it means two or more consonants, and simplifying the rule this way gets most cases right.
                          The important question is whether the consonant or combination thereof sounds short or long.
                          Some long-looking combinations of consonants are short and do not count as "consonant clusters" for syllable weight; these are qu and some cases of muta cum liquida.
                          Sometimes a "consonant cluster" is spelled with a single letter, like the i in maior (pronounced /majjor/, not /major/ or /maajor/) or z.
                          Perhaps a more accurate term would have been "long consonant sound" rather than "consonant cluster".






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                          answered 9 mins ago









                          Joonas Ilmavirta♦

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